FEATURE STORY: Addiction & Recovery Patiently Wait

Hello, my name is Jeff, I am a recovering alcoholic, addict and codependent, I guess that’s a good place to start. Looking back I was a wide-eyed fun-loving kid, intent on exploring my world. I didn’t know it then, but I’ve come to learn that I grew up in a family surrounded by and entrenched in, the family disease of alcoholism/addiction. Both my parents are children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of alcoholics. On my father’s side, my great, great grandfather and his brother started what continues to this to this day to be a thriving Berks County business. My great, great grandfather’s alcoholism was responsible for his slow but steady deterioration to the point where there was no choice but for him to relinquish the entire business to his brother. As the successive generations were born, not only was his alcoholism passed on in the family’s genes, but their shame, regret, lost opportunities of “what could of been if only” was also passed on. At that time no one had any understanding that the prime culprit for all of this was the family disease of alcoholism. At that time there was a lack of treatment for this family disease. Eventually in the 1930s Alcoholics Anonymous was born, followed by Al-Anon and then as we know today, many other 12-step programs. Just to be clear for the sake of the traditions, this story is not affiliated with any particular program. It is a recovery story; my recovery story. Read more of Jeff’s story >